


crushes are for kids

by stupideas



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, F/M, by everyone minus joohyun or so joohyun thinks, how to deal with feelings, jongdae is loved, math teacher irene acts tough, this world needs more teacher x teacher
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 21:28:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15671634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupideas/pseuds/stupideas
Summary: Crushes aren't for teachers like Joohyun.





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> (because my summary was too long) 
> 
> “My math book committed suicide because it had too many problems—seriously, can’t they come up with an original excuse?”
> 
> Joohyun pushed her glasses, sighing as she tossed the application aside.
> 
> “That’s an original one though.” The teacher next to her mused, carelessly correcting the answer sheets in front of her; “Oh, wait, this is wrong.”
> 
> Joohyun only gave her a look. “Weren’t you the one who shared this joke two days ago?” She asked, earning an accusing look from her colleague. She sighed inwardly for the nth time; “On Facebook.”
> 
> “Oh!” came an immediate reply. “I did, I did. How could I forget? My husband shared it with me. Kids these days – aren’t they aware that even we use modern stuffs?”
> 
> Joohyun only nodded, picking up her bag and getting ready to escape before they shot rants at her direction. Not that she minded, but she was busy that evening; she had to tutor a kid who could do anything but math, like most of the kids his age.
> 
> “I’ll head out,” she said and gave them a slight wave. She was met with a few ‘Bye’s, fewer ‘take cares’ and Mr. Kim’s face right when she was about to exit.
> 
> It caught her off guard as he literally appeared out of nowhere.
> 
> “Hi!” He greeted excitedly.
> 
> Joohyun became flustered at the enthusiastic greeting.
> 
> “Bye,” she muttered under her breath, and moved past him, with her head bowed to hide her rosy cheeks.

Handling the kids was never an easy job. If there was something Joohyun would wholeheartedly avoid, it would be looking after the bunch of wild creatures outside the classrooms. Sadly for her, she was one of the few who was really good at this task, hence why she was stuck among the crowd of uncontrollable high-school-ers.

The day was for them, she agreed – it was _Children’s Day_ after all – but it didn’t mean they were free from all the rules. The head teacher had strictly told them not to behave as uncivilized people. Joohyun let them off it they hooted or stood up and danced all – that was what an audience was supposed to do after all, not that she would – but the name calling was often getting to her, as well as the flashes.

 _Shit, the principal is wants me to find out who those kids are_ , she thought as soon as she was met with the principal’s hard gaze. She stood up from her place despite her wishes – _I was really enjoying their performance_ – and went on another round to seize all the cell phones that had been brought.

“Idiots,” she muttered under her breath when she saw a student desperately trying to hide her valuables; “At least turn off the flash if you don’t want to be caught.” She yelled, marching towards the student and snatching her phone. Joohyun was beyond pissed, and she hoped her words and actions had gotten into them.

She hated being interrupted while doing something, and these kids, despite claiming to be smart, often forgot that fact and landed themselves in trouble. Anyways, she got another phone for free. If the girl didn’t dare claim it back, she’d be giving that to someone in need. The girl would learn her lesson, and she’d save some money.

Although she really didn’t wish to be this mean to the kids – cell phones are one’s _world_ , one’s _life_ , one’s _everything_ , including Joohyun’s – she wished one day she’d land her hands on an IPhone. Her nephew had been begging for one, and he was a rather responsible kid, so why not?

From the corner of her eyes, she spotted another student using his phone – an IPhone to precise. Joohyun stuck in a deep breath before standing up from her seat and moving towards him, but the voice speaking over the mic made her halt on her steps.

“Ms. Bae, please,”

Mr. Kim. She screamed inside her head as the kids clapped and hooted with joy, cheering for Mr. Kim, who was obviously trying to stop her from harassing them further. She glared at his distinct figure on the stage. At that point she wanted to show him the finger, but she had to refrain herself. After all, she was someone the kids looked up to. They certain didn’t want to throw her off a cliff or anything. And now with Kim Jongdae’s support, they’d certainly not harm her in anyway.

“It’s for everyone – my performance. So, it would nice if you, um…”

Wordlessly Joohyun shrunk back on her seat with an annoyed expression, except this time her face was red. She heard whispers behind her, mocking her – “ _She’s fuming, fuming_ ,” and “ _Finally she’s on line_ ,” were caught by her exceptionally sharp ears – but she swallowed her pride and acted as if they didn’t exist.

She hated being called out by anyone, especially Kim Jongdae.

“…yeah, thank you!” He smiled brightly.

Cheers followed. Everyone inside the hall screamed Jongdae’s name, except her. Joohyun only sulked.

_Sheesh, why are they so hyped up? Not like he’s any Kim Jae —_

Joohyun’s internal monologue died down as soon as Jongdae opened his mouth.

_Holy shit – he sings beautifully._

Joohyun found herself amazed and mesmerized.

Normally, she had her expressions in check. She never slipped, at least not as how she had at that time. Mr. Kim sounded heavenly – and the way her mouth remained ajar, eyes fixated on him the entire time gave her away.

She could only hope he hadn’t caught her in such a vulnerable state.

She wished, she prayed. But she knew all of it had gone in vain when he shot another smile at her direction.

_Shit. Joohyun, shit, you’re dead._

 


	2. ii.

_No, no, crushes are only for these kids._ Joohyun slapped herself. _You are grown up. You are mature. You are twenty five. You should prepare to get married, not pin over this cute guy who – snap out of it!_

_Kim Jongdae isn’t cute._

Joohyun nodded, agreeing with the statement she had just thought of. Mr. Kim was far from cute, and below her standards. She was Bae Joohyun – the girl every girl dreamed to be, the one every boy worships despite her mean attitude (but again, why should she be kind to them?), the woman whose beauty could never be rivaled. She was Bae Joohyun – someone to be envied, the definition of perfect, the face, and someone out of everyone’s league.

And he was Kim Jongdae. The clumsy literature teacher who often spluttered weird philosophical nonsense hardly anyone could grasp, was always late, always caused trouble, pretty lenient, short, a terrific – terrible singer, low-key sarcastic, reasonable, reliable, helpful, cute, adorable – shut up, brain!

Joohyun slapped herself again and shook her head vigorously.

_He’s too… good for you. Very good. You don’t deserve someone like him, Bae, stop thinking of him!_

She screamed into a pillow, whining with her whole body, before throwing that pillow at some corner and grabbing her laptop.

It was forbidden; she kept reminding herself. Kim Jongdae was her senior, her colleague and crushing on him would do her no good. Maybe he had a girl, maybe he was married, or maybe he had kids – kids with a childhood sweetheart? Or maybe he was gay. She’d be heartbroken, looked down upon because she was Bae Joohyun and Bae Joohyun only broke hearts, never allowed herself to break. Bae Joohyun was the ideal girl, a teacher – an example to the kids she called her children – and _this_ wasn’t right. Her status didn’t allow. The world wouldn’t allow.

Especially since Kim Jongdae was the school’s favorite. Although his relationship status was unknown, his nature and talents were. He was kind, cheerful, inspirational, really very talented and hardworking – _the school’s idol._

He was miles away from her league.

She didn’t want heartbreak. It was disgusting and hard to handle. She was Bae Joohyun and Bae Joohyun could not be fragile. Crushes made you so soft, so vulnerable, that even if you say you’ll stay away, you’ll find your way towards them. Although you say you’ll erase him from your life, you’ll avoid him, you end up stalking his profile on Facebook, Instragram – whatever he has – and end up saving all pictures, all videos of him that you can get your hands on.

She had promised herself not to be soft for a guy, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t save all Jongdae related stuffs from her students’ phones.

The girls _adored_ him, she figured, and she was slowly becoming one of them.

Not that she would admit that.

Whatever she was keeping with her, was all for blackmail purpose.

  
  



	3. iii.

Joohyun kept telling herself that it was all the same – the school she went to, the faces she met, the roads she took, heck, even the birds that flew by were the same. Nothing had changed; _nothing._

Joohyun still smiled when she passed by the group of teachers a little above her age, or met up with kids like Jungkook and Sohye – the smart and hardworking kids. Yerim still managed to piss her off and take her phone back. Joohyun had spared her another warning, which she didn’t heed too, as always. She had also met up with a few of her admirers and a few who didn’t like her – the few who deemed her under qualified, still. She impressed the Principal again with her skills in spotting a kid that was out of place – like most of the time it was Donghyuck. He had forgotten which shirt he had to wear for the day again. She had scolded him, but he only gave her a cheeky grin and left. She knew what was inside his head, but didn’t mind, like always.

It was all the same.

She avoided Kim Jongdae whenever he tried to speak to her.

He greeted her with a _hi_ and she passed by him with a short bye, because she didn’t want to engage herself in useless conversations.

She didn’t face him, and even if she did, she only gave him her signature blank face, to which he responded with that damn grin of his. She remained unfazed by that though, or she made it seem like she was unfazed, as always.

It was normal, usual and very much the way Joohyun wanted it to be, except this time, she found herself stealing glances whenever Mr. Kim was around. She found herself taking extra note of those who were head over heels for Mr. Kim. Also, this time she felt even more flustered – her cheeks felt warmer than usual and her temper rose rather quickly than the other days.

Her feelings were a mess. Not that they were not supposed to be, but it wasn’t _normal._

But, she wanted it to be normal.

 

“Kim Jongdae, you’re a jerk!”

“What? Why?”

Joohyun’s eyes grew wide when she realized where she was at – her desk, surrounded by the teachers who were either doing their job or playing around. She was supposed to be scrolling through her Facebook page, searching for illogical mathematical jokes her students might use at her later, but she had to slip into an unconscious state again and splutter out nonsense about Jongdae in front of Jongdae.

 _What have you done, Joohyun?_ Joohyun cried internally.

Externally however, she (thankfully) managed to compose herself. She blinked at him, face devoid of any emotion; “What, _what?_ What _why?_ ”

She cleared her throat, ignoring the smirk that was dangling on Mr. Kim’s lips; “I was just reading something on my phone.”

“Something about me? Because I clearly heard my name –“

“Yes,” she replied hurriedly, fingers swiping and bringing her to the gallery. She shoved her phone in front of his face. “This.”

It was a screenshot from Yerim’s phone she had transferred just the day before for blackmailing purpose. A screenshot of their private group chat where they discussed mostly about Kim Jongdae and how _offensive_ – Joohyun finally understood why kids these days preferred to use words as ‘attack’ and ‘offend’ – his existence was. Not exactly what she was unconsciously blabbering, but close to that.

She hoped she wouldn’t get caught.

Joohyun crossed her fingers and prayed again.

This time, they were heard (thankfully).

Jongdae’s face pinked as his eyes skimmed over what was presented on the screen and he let out an embarrassed laughter, muttering something like _I’m guessing Yerim’s phone_. Joohyun wanted to nod and join him, because that’s what she would’ve done if she was with Hani and others but this was Jongdae, she reminded herself.

And normally, Joohyun didn’t bother acting properly with Jongdae.

But seeing Jongdae be embarrassed, that too, because of her wasn’t normal either.  

Joohyun chuckled, ignoring the wild beating of her heart; “Be careful, Mr. Idol.” And proceeded to take her leave, this time, receiving a ‘see you tomorrow’ from Jongdae.

_Joohyun, you’re doomed._

  
  



End file.
